by Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports

by Robert Klemko, USA TODAY Sports

NEW ORLEANS â?? The future of football is on trial during Super Bowl week with everyone from Bernard Pollard to Barack Obama weighing in.

But who better to offer an assessment than perhaps the only man playing in the Super Bowl who has the NFL shield tattooed on his body?

NaVorro Bowman is an exceptional San Francisco 49ers linebacker and is part of the league's highest-paid linebacking duo along with Patrick Willis. He had the league shield inked into his very large right bicep with a set of praying hands above the letters "NFL" after being drafted in 2010.

"It's really a tattoo that I always wanted. I felt like it was the elite part of playing this game. All the way from Pop Warner to college is a lot of work. And for me to be at this level I feel like that shield should be on my arm. I walk proudly with it."

Bowman's pride didn't take a hit when the NFL docked him $10,000 for unnecessary roughness after a hit on St. Louis Rams running back Steven Jackson in December.

"I play this game in the way that it should be played," he said. "They're doing their job and they have rules. I'm not playing to hurt anyone or deserve a fine. It's part of the rules, and I just have to deal with it."

As the NFL ramps up it's efforts to make the game safer, Bowman says he's never suffered a concussion over the course of three NFL seasons and 338 tackles. "I've got a tough jaw," brags Bowman.

He says he'd have no qualms over letting his children play the sport.

"I got into football by seeing other people play it and seeing how physical it is," Bowman says. "Know that you have to tackle, that you may get hit. That's a choice I made as a child and I think I'll let my children make their choices. I think football can be played in a safe way."